Adrian Durham has been blown away by the performances of Leeds United youngster Jack Clarke this season.
Clarke, 18, has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign at Elland Road, but he has not played since February 9 after collapsing on the bench at Middlesbrough due to a virus.
However he has still made 17 appearances in all competitions this term, scoring two goals and supplying two assists in the process.
And talkSPORT host Durham has been heaping praise on the way Marcelo Bielsa has lifted the confidence of players like Clarke since becoming the Leeds manager last summer.
“He [Bielsa] talks highly of his players, he seems to love his players,” Durham said, as shown by talkSPORT’s official Twitter account on Wednesday night.
“He gives them so much confidence to try and do things.
“I mean look at the performances of young Jack Clarke when he was in the team around the Christmas period.
“Absolutely incredible.
“You’re talking about a teenager just going at defenders, taking them and being truly entertaining.”
“Bielsa’s Leeds are brilliant.” ?
“Is this the most entertaining team EVER outside the Premier League?” ?@talkSPORTDrive on #LUFC ?? pic.twitter.com/X3pJAtM3AY
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) March 13, 2019
OPINION
Clarke has been superb for Leeds and hopefully he returns to first team action soon because his illness has kept him sidelined for over a month now. It gave everyone a scare when the 18-year-old was rushed to hospital due to collapsing on the bench at Middlesbrough, but luckily it was nothing too serious and he should be back in Bielsa’s matchday plans soon enough. Bielsa has done well not to rush Clarke back and hopefully the teenage attacker can pick up where he left off once he does return. Clarke has only made five total starts this term, so he will be looking to get into Bielsa’s starting line-up more often before the season ends. However Leeds are in very good form at the moment, winning their last three games by scoring eight goals and conceding none. Clarke will have to do very well to break into the starting line-up at this rate, so he may have to wait for someone’s form to drop or another injury to hit the squad.